Your words have really made me reflect on my own relationship to communal eating...Whenever we go to The National Theatre, we eat at the streetfood market regardless of the season, due to the communal eating element. We end up on a table with a bunch of strangers, all with different cuisines, diffferent ages, backgrounds etc and within minutes, the conversation is flowing. What you said about vulnerability really resonated...Something about eating together, knowing that in that moment, we are each of us hungry and will each of us satisfy a desire - together- is so bizarrely intimate and disarming that we readily offer up a small something of ourselves. During these meals, myself along with these perfect strangers have shared facts of our lives pertaining to our grief, joy, hope etc alongside more mundane details "and what part of London are you from then?" I never really thought much about why these spontaneous encounters felt so special until you articulated so brilliantly the connection between vulnerability and the knowing that you'll never see these people again!
Your words have really made me reflect on my own relationship to communal eating...Whenever we go to The National Theatre, we eat at the streetfood market regardless of the season, due to the communal eating element. We end up on a table with a bunch of strangers, all with different cuisines, diffferent ages, backgrounds etc and within minutes, the conversation is flowing. What you said about vulnerability really resonated...Something about eating together, knowing that in that moment, we are each of us hungry and will each of us satisfy a desire - together- is so bizarrely intimate and disarming that we readily offer up a small something of ourselves. During these meals, myself along with these perfect strangers have shared facts of our lives pertaining to our grief, joy, hope etc alongside more mundane details "and what part of London are you from then?" I never really thought much about why these spontaneous encounters felt so special until you articulated so brilliantly the connection between vulnerability and the knowing that you'll never see these people again!
I love this!
Getting to eat with perfect strangers sounds like it would be a fun vacation. I do so hate sitting at a table all alone.
Just after I posted this my partner and I were sat with two elderly ladies in a cafe and had the best conversation. It's just so nice!
Conversations seem to be verboten anymore. Who crowds of people in restaurants sit and zone out on the tiny screens in their hands.